My C70 has a bad front left bearing, broken strut mount and worn ball joint. I knew about the strut mount and balljoint when I purchased it, but not the bearing. It's useles just replacing one side so I bit the bullet for a front end rebuild.

I purchased and receiveda Shocks Struts Mounts Links Kit, Tie Rod End Ends, Wheel Hub Bearings, Control Armsfrom FCP Groton via Ebay (except for the control arms, had to phone order those and that is how you replace the ball joints on this car) ..... http://myworld.ebay.com/ebaymotors/foreigncarpartsonline/ forunder $900 delivered!! That's a killer deal on these parts.

The 4 cross drilled and slotted rotors w/ ceramic pads were $204 delivered, also from an Ebay company, Brakelabs ..... http://stores.ebay.com/BrakelabsI used these brakes on my girlfriends 05 VW Beetle Turbo conv. and they worked awesome.

I have no problem with replacingthe struts, but any info on the control arms and inner tie rod replacement is appreciated!!

 

Its all pretty straight foward.
Control arms arent that bad the screws to the subframe and the bolt holding it to the hub.
For the inner tie rod remove the outer ones then slide the boot off then remove the inner tie rod. Tip count the turns taking the outer tie rod off and put it back on the same amount of turns. When all done you will need to have an alignment right away.

 

Looks like this Saturday is the day for the install....65 degrees and the day off.

I have a few questions:

Do I need any special tools/sockets for the control arms, tie rods, brakesor hubs? I hate to get knee deep into repairs only to realize I'm short a tool(s).

Are the brakespretty much standard? I usually crank the piston back with a C clamp and slap in the new pads. Should I lube the guides or are they sealed?

TIA...Thanks in advancefor the advice!

I'm keeping a tally for repairs. I'm getting a sneaking suspicion that my $4k purchase was NOT the deal I thought it was.

 

My FCP Groton and Brakelab parts....shiny!

http://s481.photobucket.com/albums/r...0108092004.jpg

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For the brakes you will need a 7MM allen socket.
For the hub you will need an inverted torxes socket I forget the size though.

 

Wow, what a pain in the a** that front end was.

The bolts for the lower control arms (17mm)are semiblocked by the tranny on the drivers side and the bolts cannot be romoved from the frame rail.If your bolt is rusted or stripped, u r screwed. The bolts attachingthe struts to the knuckle are 17mm and the nuts are 18mm....weird.The hubs were the most difficult to remove from the knuckle, an inverted torx E14 that some pysho@ the factory slathered with white loctite. Pep Boys hasa 10 piece inverted torxset E8 thru E18 from Pep Boys for $12.A pipe wrench was the only tool thatwould remove theover-tightenedinner tie rods.

Overall it was well worth it. Both struts, strut mouts,inner tie-rods were wiped out and so wereboth ball joints. The drivers side outer tie-rodand the hub were toast.

I would not do this again: without power/air tools, a lift, orif you arerelying on a friend to help youwho goes out drinking the night before, picks up a girl and breaks his dry spell....may he have an itch that only an unclean woman can give.